Rwanda and the Central African Republic on Thursday, August 5, signed four bilateral agreements during President Faustin-Archange Touadéras state visit to Rwanda. Presidents Kagame and Touadéra held one-on-one talks and later bilateral talks after which the agreements were signed by their respective Ministers. The four pacts are: an agreement of cooperation in economic planning; a Memorandum of Understanding for mining; a Memorandum of Understanding to support the strategy for security sector reforms; and an agreement of cooperation in transport. Shortly after the two countries Ministers signed the related documents, the Central African Republic President, among others, stressed that his visit seeks to strengthen existing bilateral cooperation in various areas including private sector partnership. Touadéra welcomed Rwandas business community to his country where he said investment opportunities are abundant. His visit comes just a day after Rwanda started deploying an additional Infantry Battalion of 750 military personnel to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). In April, members of the Private Sector Federation (PSF) visited the country seeking potential opportunities in various sectors. During the trip, the local business community agreed to set up a company in CAR to start exploring opportunities. They appointed a board of the newly formed company, with initial investment capital of $1 million (about Rwf1 billion). In CAR, Rwandan investors will enjoy incentives such as tax holidays of up to 10-years if they invest in rural areas and three years if they invest in urban areas. Rwanda’s national carrier, RwandAir, now operates flights to Bangui.
